Sweetest Sunshine
by BecauseHeroesNeverDie
Summary: He looked up at the same blue sky and found that it was so very much like home. -A collection of short, cute little one-shots about Sora in the Hundered Acre Woods.-
1. Home

Warm sunlight filtered through the leaves. The golden rays painted the forest green and yellow. Sora walked leisurely through the forest. His hands cradled his spiky, brown head. Eyes that mirrored the skies gazed up at them, misty with dreams. A contented smile spread across his face and for the first time in quite awhile, reached his eyes and touched his heart.

He shaded his eyes from the sun as he slipped out of the protective vermilion canopy. He continued along a narrow dirt path. His feet kicked up dust. It occurred to him that the displaced dust was the only proof that he'd walked down the path.

A soft, chill breeze played with his hair, pushing it out of place, then blowing on it until it was back where it belonged. He took a deep breath, taking in the unfamiliar taste of the cool air. A few emerald leaves were tinted with red, yellow and orange. Late summer was giving way to autumn and curious eyes drank in this unusual change of season. At least in the Hundred Acre Wood, summer was over. He was surprised by the deep sadness that that thought had stirred. A sad and tired sigh hung like smoke in the air. Then, a breeze swept it away and nothing remained.

Reaching the stream, he plopped himself down on the ground. Sprawled out on the grass, he closed his eyes. The sun warmed his face. He melted into sunlight. Became the light of hope that traveled on the wind. The warmth of all worlds. Springy grass and hard earth became soft, hot, golden sand. The stream's gentle chatter became the ocean's great roar. The scent of fresh grass and clean earth became the fresh and clean scent of the salty sea air. Sora opened up one eye lazily. The same brilliant blue afternoon sky. So very much like home.


	2. Swirling Seasons

There was once a little boy with smiling brown eyes and flat brown hair who visited and played with Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. Pooh, which is short for Winnie the Pooh, called him Christopher Robin, because that was his name. He laughed and sang and played Pooh sticks with them whenever he could. He was great at inventing fun new games for all of them to play together.

Whenever Pooh saw Christopher Robin coming into the Woods on his brilliant red race bike, he stopped what he was doing and toddled over to greet him. Pooh smiled up at him, filled to the brim with sweet, golden happiness, not unlike the sweet and sticky honey he loved so much.

Pooh was always very happy to see Christopher Robin. Whether it was along the reedy bank on a hot summer day as cool water rushed beside them and sprang at their feet, a snowy-white winter afternoon with snowflakes lazily floating to the ground, or a starry evening, Christopher Robin was always greeted by the golden bear's smile.

Autumn was nice. The trees were filled with bright colors and the wind was rather fresh and cool. Winter was when the land was blanketed with wonderful white and chill magic. Pooh loved trying to catch the snowflakes. Spring was filled with the sweet smells of things growing. Pooh liked all of these seasons, but the summertime was always the best. The Woods were buzzing with color and life and bees making their sweet nectar. The best part was that Christopher Robin could stay in the Woods all day long.

The seasons swirled around and around, adding up to years.

One day Pooh was seated upon the log in front of his house, which happened to be his very favorite thinking spot. He would sit, his brow crumpling and furrowing, hoping he looked wise enough for a wandering idea to want to pay him a visit. Christopher Robin came along the path and greeted him with the usual smile and "Hullo there, Pooh."

"You seem to be getting rather...tall," the bear of little brain noted, looking up into the familiar, albeit further away, face. He noticed that the boy had to bend down quite low to meet his eyes as they spoke.

"People tend to do that," Christopher Robin laughed carelessly. The idea crept on him then, though it was only a harmless shadow. The idea seemed rather unimportant then. When the leaves fell from the trees and Christopher Robin's visits became more and more infrequent, however, Pooh Bear began to wonder. And wonder. And wonder.

"Think. Think. Think." Pooh muttered to himself, jabbing his paw into his head. He mused for hours, it seemed, sitting in his thinking spot. Still, it couldn't be anything drastic; Christopher Robin would be back soon, smiling and making up new games.

Very often, he didn't come. In fact, one day he stopped coming to the Hundred Acre Woods altogether. Pooh and his friends missed him very much and came up with all sorts of ways to bring him back.

None of them succeeded. The heartbroken, little animals could not do anything about it. So, they went about their business without Christopher Robin, but they all felt as if there was a hole in their hearts. Tigger could not jump as high. Honey did not seem as tasty to Pooh, though a little smackeral every once in a while could not hurt. Eeyore was certainly more gloomy, as was everyone else.

It seemed like life would have kept going on like this, but for one thing. One day, another boy came to the Hundred Acre Woods. His hair was brown, like Christopher Robin's, but it refused to lie flat. It poked up playfully from his head. His eyes were blue and they sparkled when he laughed. He was much older than Christopher Robin, but he still believed in make-believe and talked of dream-worlds. His name was Sora. Though Pooh didn't know why, he thought it suited him perfectly.

Sora played and laughed with them. He didn't seem to have much free time, but he always stopped by to help out or play. He never came as often as that other boy had, but he always came. Sooner or later.

In time, they all learned to love the boy with the prickly hair and brilliant smile.

Over time, he was growing taller and taller and Pooh and his friends never changed. This bothered Pooh Bear, because he remembered something like this had happened to another friend he had had once.

One day, Sora stopped coming. He just...vanished. Pooh waited and waited, hoping to see his cheerful face, but he did not show up. Seconds became hours; hours melted into days; days grew into weeks; weeks faded into months and all those months formed an entire year.

Slowly but surely the heart forgets, though the slightest ache remains. Like when Pooh was eating honey and there was only a little bit left. He was sad because it would be gone soon, though there was still a teensy bit left. Though soon enough, all the honey was gone. Not even the slightest trace of a sweet memory stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Suddenly, as suddenly as he had disappeared, Sora was back.

He was the same as ever. He smiled, laughed and played. After awhile, though, Pooh felt something was wrong. He didn't want his dear friend to go away. He was afraid that every time he saw the boy waving goodbye with a large smile across his face would be the last time he ever saw him.

"Why, exactly, do you have to go?" He asked one day, as Sora walked away.

He gave the smallest sigh and flashed a wide yet tired smile.

"There are things I have to do, Pooh," he explained. His smile grew warm. "Don't worry. You can always see me. Anytime you want."

"How?" He looked up, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Look right here." Sora poked the little bear's chest. "It always works for me."


	3. Stargazing

There was a strange magic about stars. A twinkling, sparkling magic. Sora smiled up at the tiny sparks of fire that spread over an endless blue canopy. The breath he pulled in tasted of a bittersweet nostalgia. He exhaled, remembering nights of warm sand, chill ocean air and an endless supply of stars to wish on. He remembered sunsets with Riku and Kairi at his side. He laughed at how they fought over who had seen the first star appear.

Sprawled out on the soft, springy grass with the fresh forest air caressing his cheeks, he thought of how far from home he was. He tried to lose himself in this storybook world. Though the air did not taste of the salty sea, it had the same feeling to it. He gazed up at the sky, searching for the star that grew palm trees and paopu fruit. The star that was flooded with memories as wide as the sky and as deep as the ocean.

That star was lost among the endless sea made of scraps of light. He could never find it, no matter how hard he stared up at the sky, his eyes scrunched up in concentration.

He found himself caught up in the memory of the night he had seen the shooting stars fall up into the sky. The night the worlds had burst back to life and the stardust rained in silvery sheets down on them. He had stood there watching the specks of light float down around him.

He would have smiled at that sight, but the thought of the friends that the shooting stars had taken away from him stopped him. The shooting stars had taken Riku away and the rising stars swept Kairi from his reaching fingers.

He could see her across the growing ocean. The ocean had become as deep as the sky, separating them. The rising stars swept him back into the world where he was stuck playing hero. The star of childhood dreams and sunshine was lost in the endless sea of stars.

Slowly but surely the storm in that storm of stardust his heart broke.

He could not stop smiling now. He had spent so much of his journey smiling. He could not stop laughing. He lived on small scraps of happiness and hope and flashes of smiles and peals of laughter.

"Sora, what are you doing here?" A pleasant, though uncertain voice piped up from somewhere nearby.

"Just thinkin'." He replied simply.

"I had thought that you were going to find your friends. I should think you'd have found them by now." A small golden bear plopped down beside him.

"I did, but they couldn't stay." It was hard to explain what had happened. He tried to let all the complications of life melt away when he was here.

"You should have told them you would have liked them to stay." Pooh responded after a moment of silent thought.

"Yeah." Sora sighed, then laughed a little and smiled a bright and large smile to cheer himself up. He knew that the answer was not so simple. So far below the stars all he could do was grasp air. He could not reach his friends.

He couldn't help but miss his two dearest friends. He thought of Kairi all alone on the islands and Riku trapped behind the door. He wondered if he would spend his whole life almost reaching them, almost going home. When he tried to hold on to them, his hands would fall through the air.

No, he reassured himself with another smile, everything would be fine in the end. He just had to wait a little longer.

The wind whispered through the trees, telling them secrets of happiness, respite and sunshine hidden by the dark night. The stars twinkled, shedding silvery half-light and promising wishes granted and dreams come true.

Stardust had a strange magic. He wondered if wishes on stars that fell upside-down were still valid. He had made so many wishes on those stars as they fell. His heart had been flooded with light and his eyes glowed. Wishes sprang to his mind before he could stop them.

In the world where life was sweet and even the shadows were friendly, he wondered.

"I do believe that you told me that my friends are here," The little bear pointed to his chest with his stiff, stuff and fluff arms. "I should think that yours should be there, as well."

Sora smiled and his eyes glowed with something that had nothing to do with starlight or moonbeams. He remembered saying that to the little golden bear.

"And if you are looking for them, I'm sure they're looking for you too." Pooh went on thoughtfully. Sora's heart filled with hope. If he was reaching for his friends, then surely they were reaching for him. Someday he would see their smiling faces again. Wish or no wish.

Sora liked that thought. It made a real grin spread across his face. He hoped that somewhere Riku and Kairi could see the stars. He hoped the star that he stood on caught their eyes, but he wasn't too sure. He couldn't find the stars that they were on, so why should they know where he was.

He could wish on a million stars, but that would not change a single thing.

_**Writer's woes: Once again, sorry for the redundant themes and lameness of this. I just really wanted to update this and for some reason this came to mind. There's so much I want to do with this, but I'm not really doing anything right. ...I don't have a lot of good ideas right now. **_


	4. The Hum Adventure

The wind stirred the water. The water bubbled against the rocks, flowing over the grey slabs with a gentle gurgle. Birds chirped, bees buzzed, and Owl was telling no one in particular about his uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces over a cup of tea. The shade was cool and the sun warm. This was the sort of day that Pooh was sure to spend composing hums around the Woods or playing Pooh Sticks by the riverside.

He was lumbering about, swinging one stuff and fluff limb in front of the other, waiting for the perfect tune to drift across the river or float down from the trees.

He raised an arm, waving. He was waving because he saw Sora coming towards him. Sora's hands were folded behind his head. He walked towards him slowly, a smile on his face.

"Hey, Pooh," his voice reached Pooh's little ears easily across the small distance.

Pooh hobbled over to him, as quickly as such a lovely yet slow day would allow.

"Sora, I was wondering if you could help me with something?" Pooh's voice raised a bit at the end.

"Sure, Pooh." Sora's smile spread slowly, then drooped down at the corners. "There's nothing wrong?"

"No. I just thought that it's the sort of day to write a hum, but I haven't quite thought of one yet."

"A hum?" Sora had never heard of that before.

"A little sort of song." Pooh answered matter-of-factly.

"Okay. You want to come up with a song?" Sora thought that that sounded like fun and decided he wouldn't mind helping a bit.

So the two wandered around, waiting for just the right sort of hum to pop into their heads. But as they continued down the dirt road, the hum seemed determined to stay in hiding.

"Here, Mister Hum!" Pooh called with his paws cupped around his mouth to carry his voice.

"Do you think we should look for the hum, Pooh?" Sora's eyes flicked down to Pooh and then searched the trees for signs of music playing on the wind.

"Perhaps we should." Pooh turned his head about, searching for the hum's hiding place.

The boy and the bear then searched the forest quite thoroughly. They turned over every stone, looked under piles of twigs and leaves, bravely resisting their crunchy temptation, poked their heads in hollow trees and tree trunks, but the hum was nowhere to be found.

"Do you think the hum might not be home today?" Sora suggested.

"If we cannot find him, perhaps he should come to us!" Pooh answered after a long pause punctuated only by the crunching of leaves underfoot.

"I've got it!" Sora shouted, struck by sudden inspiration.

He ran to Gopher's and picked up a discarded piece of wood, then headed to Kanga's and borrowed Roo's painting set.

"Now, what should it say?" Sora asked after he had sat down and placed the board on his lap.

"Think. Think. Think." Pooh mumbled to himself. After quite a while he responded with "'A very nice sort of place for a hum to be.' Perhaps that would work."

Sora smiled. "That's just it."

He painted the words as carefully as possible. Then, he drew a little arrow, so the hum would know what direction to go in.

Sora placed the sign under a tree near Pooh's house with the arrow pointing directly at his thinking spot.

So, Sora and Pooh sat waiting. They sat and sat and sat, but still the hum did not come.

Sora's head was lowered in disappointment and he was starting to think of standing up when he heard Pooh singing along to the bird's song that echoed through the woods.

"The hum won't come," he mumble-sang thoughtfully.

"It just won't come," Sora sang uncertainly. Then, he grew more confident and added, "We've been waiting here since noon-time."

"I guess he can't come out to play," Pooh continued. "Guess he's sitting by the fire."

"Waiting for another day that's as nice as today." Sora finished with a smile. It seemed such a short hum to waste a day on, but Sora had been having so much fun all day he didn't mind. He laughed, rocking back and forth on the log, shacking with laughter. "That was fun, Pooh."

"If only the hum had come sooner. I think it should have been much more fun." Pooh commented sadly.

"I had a great day today!" Sora tried to cheer Pooh up. "It was like an adventure."

"And after that sort of adventure," Pooh started slowly and carefully, but it was obvious that he had been quite cheered up, "A rather large smackeral of something is in order."

Sora grinned. "Let's go get you some honey, Pooh."

_**Writer's woes: I haven't read this over...sooo...Yeah. I tried to go really old-fashion with this, but I also wanted to have a story in the style of the old cartoon. ...Faiiil. **_


	5. Steam Rising from a Hot Drink

"Have some hot chocolate, Sora-dear," Kanga smiled warmly, placing a mug in front of him.

Sora pulled off a pair of striped mittens he'd gotten from Tiger, a hat from Rabbit, a pair of earmuffs that squeezed his head uncomfortably from Piglet and a coat that Pooh found in his closet that was just the right size for him. Then he unwrapped the scarf from around his neck and took a deep breath.

It was so cold in the Hundred Acre Woods that his face stung and his eyes watered. Sora was certain that if he stood long enough in one place, he would freeze to the spot. He had tried to stay outside for a while. He watched the snow fall on his gloved hand and shook his head when it gathered into a large pile on his hair.

Sora sat down stiffly and tried to work his face into a smile. He hadn't been able to feel his face since the moment he had arrived here.

He could not deny that there was something magical about snow. It was soft and it glittered as it melted in the sun. But there was a point when he had become too cold to appreciate anything at all.

Sora picked the mug up slowly, letting its warmth spread to his cold fingers. He watched as steam rose, spreading patterns curling up into the space below his nose.

"Hot chocolate?" Sora looked up at her, confusion and awe mixed up in his stomach as he stared into down into the mug. A smile spread slowly across Kanga's face like the warmth that was steadily bringing the feeling back into Sora's cold hands.

"To warm up. It's awfully cold out there, dear. If you don't warm up soon, I'm afraid you'll be frozen solid soon." She laughed a little, dunking the ladle back into the pot on the stove to pour out a cup for Roo.

Sora was starting to forget what it had been like to live with his family.

Kanga stirred up old memories of home cooking and sweet singing.

He'd never even realized he'd missed his mother.

Sora's eye carefully followed the steam rising up into the air. He blew at it, watching the smoky patterns rearrange at his slightest breath.

"Drink before it gets cold, dear." Kanga informed gently.

Sora drew the mug to his lips and tipped it back. It shocked him at first. He'd never drank something so hot before, but he liked the way the feeling spread to his finger tips and down his legs. It was like sunshine or a smile on a windy day. It tasted so sweet. He took gulp after gulp, filling himself with warmth and sweetness whenever the feelings threatened to leave him.

Too soon the mug was empty. He stared at it dully, feeling a little empty himself.

He shook his head, frozen clumps of hair sticking into his cheeks and forehead.

He smiled and waited for the warmth to spread to his heart.

"Would you like another cup, dear?"

"Yes, please." Sora held the cup up and Kanga took it and swiftly gave him a refill.

Roo bounced in, singing a song that sounded as if he was making up every bit on the spot.

"Hello, Mama. Hello, Sora." Roo greeted them cheerfully. He plunked down on a chair stacked with books so he could reach the table. Kanga placed a mug down in front of him with a soft clink.

"Thank you, Mama!" Roo dove into his hot chocolate, mug clutched between both paws.

Sora liked the cozy closeness of Kanga's kitchen. He smiled, warming up as he watched Kanga and Roo trade stories of snowball fights and watching the weather out the kitchen window.

"You think it'll snow all day, Mama?" Roo asked, the excitement clear in his voice.

"Maybe, but it'll be just as cold in here as it is outside if we run out of firewood and hot chocolate." Kanga answered in her sweet, quiet voice. Roo jumped from his seat, waving his cup around for another refill.

"But, Mama, I don't think it's possible to run out of hot chocolate."

**_Writer's woes: I've got myself my own little prompt list for this story! :D I came up with the words straight from my head. In homage to my great fanfictional hero Griselda Banks, I'm thinking I'll try to update this every week. :D No matter what happened, she would always have another chapter of A Hundred Ways ready by the end of the week! So inspiring! _**

**_If I do that, I might have to force some chapters, so, as we all know already, this is not my best work. But I just like the idea, so I do enjoy writing it! _**

**_So if anyone has any ideas for a prompt, please just tell me! I'd love to have loads of ideas. :D _**

**_Thanks for reading!_**

**_God Bless!_**

**_~Hillary  
_**


	6. Sleep Conqueror's Respite

It might have been strange, but sometimes Sora wanted nothing more than to fall asleep.

He rubbed at his eyes, pinched his arms, stretched his fingers until they ached, and gave his face a little slap. Anything to keep himself awake. He gripped the Keyblade tightly, until blisters formed, even under his gloves. He stared at the sun during the day and streetlamps during the long nights. Someone had to save all those people from the darkness. Someone had to stay up every waking hour to protect them. A heart could fall at any time and he had to be ready. There was no one else who was so good at pretending to be a hero.

A brilliant smile to stretch his tired face, a loud laugh to keep himself awake. Always running to keep himself alive. Every limb screaming all the time. _Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. _

_You can't take much more. _

Heroes can't rest. Everyone needs a hero, but there's nothing at all for a hero to fall back on.

Exhaustion had set in his limbs, curled in his eyes, tugging at his eyelids. His legs threatened to give at each step. The wind sang lullabies, whistling through the trees and swishing the water in the riverbed.

His head was swirling with nights spent in hotels or the cot that swayed freely in the Gummi ship. He fought against the Heartless until he dropped down onto the nearest soft surface. He would fall asleep slumped in a chair or sitting against a wall and wake up in bed, a pillow soft under his head and a blanket tucked to his chin. He would smile and stretch, rubbing at his eyes. He would find Donald and Goofy nearby, already at work planning the day's mission. He would grin at them and say quietly "Thank you." And they would smile, sadly nodding their heads and pretending they didn't see the bags under his eyes.

He never got to sleep long. It wasn't enough to stop him from feeling tired all the time.

But he could sleep in this place. There was no darkness. Only dappled light that fell through the trees.

He fell in the grass. It rubbed against his face. The wind pushed the long strands of grass around him.

He floated as if on a cloud up in that placid blue sky.

In the soft grass under the calm sky in the land where shadows were only a trick of the light he slept.

A conqueror's respite.

_**Writer's woe: I decided to end it where I did to avoid an ending line being something annoying and depressing like "and rest was fleeting with nothing but more fighting after the dream of peace." Plus, that line just sucks. **_

_**I know it's bad; leave me alone...I wrote it forever ago and was very, very lazy when I was typing it and added/fixed very little...BEWARE PAPER-DRAFT QUALITY! **_

_**I should get more sleep...  
**_


	7. Pop!

_Pop! w_ent the blue balloon, sending Winnie-the-Pooh flying to the ground, stuff and fluff arms waving as if he expected to fly if he tried hard enough. He certainly wished he could fly, as it would make it much easier to reach the tippy top of the tall honey tree.

The silly bear had tried to make wings. He strung together feathers that had fallen from Owl's wings along with the feathers that fell from his pillow. He had flapped the wings, standing on the top of the highest hill, and waited for a great breeze to come his way. That would surely be enough to take him to the top of the honey tree.

The breeze did come. It blew through the trees, carrying leaves away with it. It was the wind of a nighttime storm or perhaps a blustery afternoon. The wind took his feathers with it as it rushed past the poor little bear.

"Oh bother," he muttered to himself, watching his feathers as they were whipped away, high up into the blue sky. They had swirled around and around in the air, like the dust did when Rabbit swept his floors. The feathers would eventually flutter to the ground again and perhaps, perhaps they would bring back some honey with them. Pooh plopped to the ground, raising his head to watch as the feathers kept going higher and higher. He frowned, crinkling his brow as he watched the feathers rush past the honey tree and then fly even higher.

"Care to bring some honey back for me?" Pooh Bear had called up to them. The wind took his voice with it and twirled it in the air like a leaf, then brought it back to him in a quiet echo.

He moved on to his next plan. He wrapped his paws around a balloon string and held on tight as it flew him up to the top of the tree.

He smiled as he floated over branch after branch. The balloon floated up and up and up. Pooh would be able to have all the honey he wanted.

Then instead of going up it went down. It had been hit by a twig from one of the branches as it flew past.

Sora caught the bear before he hit the ground. He smiled, placing the bear back on his feet.

Pooh picked up another balloon from the pile and handed it to him. Sora grinned, putting the balloon to his lips and blowing it up as fast as he could.

"Are you sure you don't wanna give up, Pooh?" Sora asked, concerned. The bear had been trying to reach the top of the tree for the past hour or so.

"But, Sora, if I give up I wouldn't have any honey."

Sora grinned from ear to ear. Pooh never really knew how much he said.

"True."

_**Writer's Woes: Well, I'll probably regret not reading this over when someone tells me what's wrong with this. **_

_**Are these chapters getting too redundant? Does it seem the same?**_


	8. Spring cleaning

"Hello, Ra-" Sora had wandered unknowingly onto Rabbit's doormat. He was familiar with all of the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood, but he didn't visit Rabbit very often. Rabbit always so seemed busy that Sora had decided that it was a very good idea to never bother him.

Sora stood, frozen in place as he watched Rabbit move faster than he thought was even possible.

Rabbit was here and there and everywhere all at once. He rushed and bustled, flustered at every scrap of dust and impatient with anything that was even a millimeter out of place.

"HELLO, RABBIT!" Sora decided that yelling would be the best way to cut through Rabbit's frantic mutterings.

Rabbit froze almost immediately, shocked into silence and stillness. Sora was surprised to see that he was in only one place this time.

"It's the first day of spring, Rabbit!" Sora informed.

"Don't you think I _know _that? Why do you even-?" Rabbit wrung his hands dramatically, trailing off when he suddenly found that he couldn't quite find the words he was looking for. His head twisted frantically, wide eyes searching around the house for the end of his sentence, but the words must have dived for the door or else become lost in his constant arranging and rearranging or perhaps they had simply vanished, as words tend to do.

"Don't ya think that maybe this is a bit…" Sora was searching for a word too, but his mind was far less cluttered. It came to him much sooner than it came to Rabbit, who was lifting up his welcome mat to see if, perhaps, the rest of his sentence was hiding in the dust underneath. "…much?"

"This is what I do every year! It's a precious, time-worn tradition. It's very, very important that I get my spring cleaning done!" Rabbit fumed and flurried, his hands twisting, his ears twitching.

"Well, I thought I should tell you that Tigger-" Rabbit's eyes bulged, growing so wide there wasn't much room left for his nose and mouth. He gulped loudly and let out a small shriek.

"No! No! NO! There will be NO Tiggers or Poohs or Piglets or Owls or Roos or Eeyores or anyone here today! That means no Soras either! OUT!" Rabbit shooed Sora out the door, his broom not as menacing as he'd thought in the bright spring sun. The enemy of dust and grim was nothing more than a twig with straw tied to the bottom. He stirred up waterfalls of dust in the air and watched with disdain and absolute terror as they fluttered to the floor.

This was too much.

Rabbit fell against the doorframe, slowly slipping downward. He groaned, drained.

"Common, Rabbit!" Sora's voice floated from just past the door. "It's a beautiful day!"

Rabbit poked his head around the doorframe with great difficulty, despite the fact that he was sitting right next to it.

The sun was glowing, spreading golden streaks of honey-sunlight from in between the branches of his tree and the fence posts. It was a great, warm day. The best start of spring Rabbit had seen in years, or perhaps ever.

Sora was lying on the grassy patch by Rabbit's mailbox, his head in his hands, eyes closed. Enjoying the sun. How lazy!

It looked nice.

Rabbit crept outside and stretched out in the grass, smiling at the way the sun warmed him. He sighed.

He would only take a small rest. A very, very small rest. Just a moment. Then, right back to work.

"Nice, right?" Sora's voice floated from beside him. "Just like home…" The boy mumbled to himself.

Rabbit stared up at the sky, like a vast, inside-out robin's egg spread with cotton clouds, like mashed potatoes on a blue serving dished.

Nice. It was nice.

Spring was only just coming to life. The grass was a little brown, but in time it would grow green. There was a dandelion growing inches from Rabbit's head, tickling his nose as it blew in the wind.

He didn't have the heart to rip it from the ground or even call it a weed.

So much for spring cleaning.

Spring was only just starting. There would be time for that later, Rabbit reasoned.

Much, much later.


	9. Firefly Light

_"I used to believe in forever, but forever's too good to be true."_

Pooh sat upon his very favorite thinking spot, the log in front of his house, squinting into the darkness. He couldn't see in front of him. He pushed a paw into the darkness and shook it, trying to push the darkness away. To his grave disappointment, it didn't budge. The dark simply sat where it was, just as cold, empty and endless as ever.

Pooh tightened his arms around his honey pot. He looked down at it, wishing he could see honey glowing somewhere in its depths. He stirred his paw around the inside of the pot, sad to find it empty even though he already knew it would be.

"HUNNY FOR POOH FROM CHRISTOPHER ROBIN" was painted in bright red across the honey pot's wide tummy.

"Are you there, Christopher Robin?" Pooh asked the wind quietly. The wind blew gently across the trees, stirring the fallen leaves across the forest floor and tugging at the leaves that still clung to trees, forcing them to leave their homes. Pooh had spent the day searching for his friends, trying to figure out why he was all alone, why there was no one else at all in the world. He clung on to Christopher Robin's honey pot, trying to remember summers and springs, winters and falls. He couldn't even find his friends anywhere in his stuff and fluff brain. He pounded a paw into his head and twisted it around, almost shouting "think, think, think!"

But he soon gave up thinking and searched for the sky and the trees. He could hear the wind, but he couldn't see them. Pooh was certain that if he could find one star, he could wish on it and it would give him back all his friends.

"Christopher Robin, are you there?" He was sure that Christopher Robin would have been able to find his friends. Christopher Robin had always known what to do.

Quite suddenly, there was a light. A light that danced. Pooh watched as the light twirled, bouncing up and right, left and down, faster than Tigger could jump from one river bank to the other.

More suddenly, the light vanished, then flickered to life again, but after it only glowed in little slices, as if something were covering it.

The light came toward Pooh, he reached out for it. When it was right in front of him, he saw that the light was held in a pair of large hands. The hands opened and the light fluttered up and away into the night sky.

Right before he could make his wish, Pooh saw Sora's face glowing in the firefly light.

"Hey, Pooh! I've been lookin' for you everywhere!" Sora reached for Pooh's paw, pulling Pooh to his feet. "I'll help ya look for your friends."

Pooh walked through the woods with Sora, wondering if Sora could find Christopher Robin, the friend Pooh couldn't help but miss the most. He wasn't sure when he had last seen him, but it seemed like forever. Pooh looked up at Sora's face, lit up by the lantern he was carrying.

When Pooh saw Sora's face, he was certain that anything was possible and that maybe, just maybe, there was a way to be with his friends again.

**_Writer's Woes: My God, this needs editing. I just wrote it! :D Woo!  
_**


	10. Remember?

"I'm Sora, remember?" His heart had sunk through his rib cage, falling straight into his stomach acid. It stopped and started again, sputtering and spinning with questions that it couldn't answer. "Don't you… re… member?"

The word caught strangely in his throat, cut in half by a feeling he did not understand.

"I'm very sorry, Somebody-I-Don't-Know, but I think that I should remember someone such as yourself or else I have forgotten..." Pooh trailed off, pensive in the way that only such a bear can be. He continued his stoutness exercises, which had been interrupted by the strange visitor who claimed to know him, mumbling to himself all the while.

Sora frowned, was he really so easy to forget? The frown burrowed its way up to his eyebrows. What if all of his friends had forgotten about him? Would he even exist then?

Could he be real without his friends?

His friends gave him the strength to fight. Sometimes when he felt too tired to move, he'd think of Kairi and Riku and all of his other friends. As long as he thought about them and they thought about him, he was sure he could do anything. His friends had a home in his heart as he had in theirs. He'd be an empty wanderer with no way home without them.

"Are you alright?" Pooh looked at him quizzically. It was just then that Sora had begun to feel the tears gathering in his eyes and spilling out onto his cheeks.

"I'm okay, don't worry." He tossed the bear the largest smile he could possibly muster. Sora rubbed at his eyes, the cloth of his gloves scraping his skin uncomfortably. "See, nothing wrong."

Sora didn't want to bother Pooh anymore. He begun to walk back the way he came, wondering if he was ready to go to other worlds and face all of the blank stares.

"Wouldn't you like to stay for a bit? You look like you could use a little smakeral of something," Pooh laughed a little and hobbled to his door. Sora froze and turned around, leaving now would be rude and, for some reason, he really wanted to stay. He followed Pooh inside and sat at the table. He wondered if he was a little too heavy for the tiny wooden chairs, but he decided to sit down anyway. The chair didn't give. Sora sat, twisting his necklace in between his fingers, staring at a patch of sky visible from the window, watching the dust float in the light from the window, trying not to think.

Pooh, finished rifling in the cupboards, sat in the chair opposite Sora's, looking utterly disappointed.

"Oh bother," Pooh Bear muttered thoughtfully, a little more to himself than to Sora. "All out of honey. I'm very sorry, Somebody-I-Don't-Know."

"That's fine." Sora smiled, "Thanks for thinkin' about me, Pooh."

_**Writer's Woes: So, I think I'll be continuing this idea in another chapter. It really deserves more than what I've just done, it's a very interesting part of the Hundred Acre Wood story in KH II and I've always wanted to write about it. **_

_**Yeah! :D  
**_


	11. Pooh Sticks

The river bubbled. The sound of it swished in Pooh's ears as he sat on the bridge, his legs dangling over the edge. If he stretched out his legs just a little, he would be able to feel water splashing at his toes. If he sat quietly and did not disrupt the river, it would continue on and if he wasn't there at all, it would also continue on.

There was a pile of sticks next the bear, tied together with twine. He was waiting for his friends to arrive so they could play Pooh Sticks together. Like they always did on oppressively hot days when it was best to be still and surround oneself with cool water, shade, and friends.

Pooh lifted his eyes away from the churning water to see if his friends were coming any time soon. He looked down one path and then turned his head to view the other. No friends. Just two stretches of dry dirt fading away into the forest on either side of him. He tried to picture his friends walking down each path as he gazed upon it, but his brain felt rather more stuffed than usual. Where were his friends? What would they say if he told them he could not even picture them? He pushed his paws together and then pressed one paw firmly against his head, trying to stir up the fluff in his brain.

"Do you remember?" He asked the pile of Pooh Sticks beside him. He thought that perhaps one of the sticks might have been part of one of his friends' houses. He remembered that Eeyore's house was made of sticks. _Eeyore!_ Perhaps Eeyore would come to play Pooh Sticks with him.

Pooh pulled one stick from the bundle. He plopped down on his stomach and stretched his arms into the air above the river until he was as close as he could be. Then he dropped the stick as nicely as he could. It really wasn't Pooh Sticks if only Pooh was playing.

"Hey, Pooh!" A voice called. Was it _Christopher…Robin?_

Pooh turned around, his head aching with all the names that quickly rushed into his head. Where were they? Weren't they coming to play Pooh Sticks like they'd promised?

A boy in red stood at the edge of the bridge, waving at him. There was a piece of paper in the hand he was waving which made the wave rather awkward. Pooh smiled at him. _Sora._ The boy who'd promised to find his friends.

"Pooh, look! I've found a page of your book! We just need to put it back. I think it's… Piglet's house… that's what it says." Pooh had only seen Sora once before but he was so very nice that Pooh was already certain he liked the boy.

"Would you like to play some Pooh Sticks with me?" The bear asked the boy, holding up the sticks by the twine string that kept them close together. Sora was going to find his friends, but first, Pooh figured he deserved a fun game of Pooh Sticks.

The boy laughed and nodded his head.

"Sure, Pooh bear." The river pushed their sticks away, into the shady forest. Pooh wasn't really sure who had won.

_**Writer's woes: Okay, so I'm pretty mad at myself for not touching this in awhile. This was written up as I thought of it so BEWARE ROUGH DRAFT QUALITY. It is likely to not come together well or even make sense. Someone suggested a Pooh Sticks chapter and I was listening to Utada's Deep River, so it just kind of happened. It's also supposed to be during the first game when Sora is first finding pages to fix Pooh's book.**_

_** I will write a happier Pooh Sticks chapter if you would like. I also have a couple half-written chapters just waiting to be finished and posted. If anyone is still following this after all this time, thank you very much. **_

_**Happy New Year, everyone! **_


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